Magnet recognized: Michigan Medicine earns nursing's highest honor

Only 6 percent of U.S. hospitals earn the coveted honor, given to organizations that meet rigorous standards for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice.

On Feb. 17, officials from the American Nurses Credentialing Center phoned Michigan Medicine, the university’s academic medical center, to deliver the good news. Marge Calarco, Ph.D. R.N., NEA-BC and chief nursing officer, fielded the call in the Ford Auditorium before an audience of nursing colleagues and other Michigan Medicine team members.

“Magnet designation is a well-deserved recognition of the extraordinary nursing care that occurs every day for the patients and families we serve,” Calarco told the audience. “I want to congratulate the thousands of nurses across our system who have worked for many years to achieve this distinction.”

Michigan Medicine leaders say the recognition serves as proof that the organization is successfully carrying out its mission of constantly improving a patient’s experience, safety and satisfaction. And it firmly establishes Michigan Medicine as a worldwide leader when it comes to advancing nursing standards, practice and empowerment — all attributes that will help attract and retain top talent from across the globe.

“It is a great day to be a registered nurse at Michigan,” said Juanita Parry, R.N., M.S., director of nurse and physician assistant recruitment and retention and Magnet program director. “Magnet is not awarded or given, it is earned.”

Michigan Medicine’s Magnet journey began in 2012. Since then, nursing leadership, in partnership with the Michigan Nurses Association/University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council (MNA/UMPNC), has collaborated with all interprofessional partners, patients and families and support staff to drive this initiative to a successful completion.

Michigan Medicine staff celebrate nursing magnet announcement

“Our nurses work so hard every day, interacting with people at the most intimate moments of their life,” said Katie Scott, B.S.N., Magnet co-lead for the UMPNC. “And this Magnet journey has shown just how important our job is.”

As part of the Magnet process, faculty and staff submitted hundreds of pages of documents and measurements in more than 100 standards of excellence to the ANCC.

“Magnet is not just a worldwide recognition of nursing excellence, it is an institutional designation,” Parry said. “It took all of us to earn Magnet designation — every employee, working every job, at every location, every day. That’s how we got here.”

About Michigan Medicine: At Michigan Medicine, we create the future of healthcare through the discovery of new knowledge for the benefit of patients and society; educate the next generation of physicians, health professionals and scientists; and serve the health needs of our citizens. We pursue excellence every day in our three hospitals, 40 outpatient locations and home care operations that handle more than 2.1 million outpatient visits a year.The U-M Medical School is one of the nation's biomedical research powerhouses, with total research funding of more than $470 million.

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